The latest from the FCA who have hit John Wood Group with a £12million fine, for doing pretty much the same as every major Council and about 10-15% of Registered Charites in Britain; provide inaccurate accounts, or simply fail to submit full accounts to auditors.
Isn’t regulation wonderful? Here’s the word.
John Wood Group PLC (“Wood Group”) has been fined £12,993,700 for publishing inaccurate information in its financial results.
Following the poor performance of certain projects, Wood Group’s accounting judgements were inappropriately influenced by its desire to maintain previously stated financial results. Wood Group did not have adequate systems, controls or procedures to prevent this from happening.
This resulted in Wood Group publishing inaccurate information in its full-year 2022 and 2023 financial results and its half-year 2024 results. The company failed to take reasonable care to ensure that its announcements about those results were not false or misleading. These issues came to light from November 2024 onwards. Wood Group’s share price fell by 78% by April 2025 and its shares were suspended in May 2025.
Steve Smart, executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said:
“Investors rely on accurate information to make decisions. Wood Group failed to provide this and fell well short of the high standards we expect of listed companies.”
The FCA opened its investigation into Wood Group in June 2025 and concluded it within nine months. This is an example of how the FCA is improving the pace of its enforcement investigations.
Wood Group accepted the findings and so qualified for a 30% reduction in its financial penalty.
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